1865 American Civil War ends
In an event that is generally regarded as marking the end of the Civil War,
Confederate General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of Confederate forces west
of the Mississippi, signs the surrender terms offered by Union negotiators.
With Smith's surrender, the last Confederate army ceased to exist, bringing a
formal end to the bloodiest four years in U.S. history.
The American Civil War began on April 12, 1861, when Confederate shore
batteries under General Pierre G.T. Beauregard opened fire on Union-held Fort
Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Bay. During 34 hours, 50 Confederate guns
and mortars launched more than 4,000 rounds at the poorly supplied fort, and
on April 13 U.S. Major Robert Anderson, commander of the Union garrison,
surrendered. Two days later, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln issued a proclamation
calling for 75,000 volunteer soldiers to help quell the Southern
"insurrection." Four long years later, the Confederacy was defeated at the total cost of
620,000 Union and Confederate dead.